Living Reynolds

Our most major art exhibition for some 15 years took up both of our temporary exhibition spaces between 21 November 2009 and 20 February 2010 and was the focus of most of our public programming throughout this period.

The show was backed with a large-scale launch event featuring a special performance by the Sir Joshua Reynolds Choir, a number of group visits, gallery tours and school sessions and a series of Lunchtime Talks and Art Bites, each looking at a different aspect of the artist’s life and career.

Young explainers event

In addition, our ‘Young Explainers’ student volunteers organised a special one-day event called ‘Living Reynolds’ at the University of Plymouth in early February. For this event the students donned 18th century costume and transformed themselves into characters from Reynolds’ paintings – giving classical works such as ‘David Garrick between Tragedy and Comedy’ a breath of fresh air.

Visitors were able to drop in to the University’s Roland Levinsky Building throughout the day and participate in a range of activities organised by the students, who were given their own budget to devise, manage and publicise the event.

Over 150 school children were encouraged to get creative with colouring activities and making military paper hats. Adults were able to mingle with the students and chat to them as they were transported back to the 18th century! The students also performed in character at a private event for 100 members of the Friends of Peninsula Arts in the evening.

The students put in weeks of research and rehearsals to transform themselves from art history students into actors! Their 20 minute performance was an ambitious romp through the period, using ‘Sir Josh’ as the central figure in an improvised unveiling of his famous portrait of actor David Garrick, posed between comedy and tragedy.

The students’ hard work and associated activities provided an ideal complement to our exhibition – helping to raise public awareness of it as we headed into its final weeks.

Other young explainers activities

Prior to the 'Living Reynolds' event the Young Explainers were responsible for a number of other activities in connection with the show.

Over a four month period they:

• Wrote, devised and oversaw the production of an animated presentation about the exhibition for the city centre’s Big Screen. The presentation featured information about the exhibition plus images of some of the paintings that appeared in the show in the form of an animated book with turning pages. It was designed to accompany an image of Sir Joshua Reynolds which appeared on the back of the Big Screen in early 2010.
• Introduced the museum's series of Reynolds-related lunchtime talks for the public which were delivered to approximately 80 to 100 people on each date.
• Researched and then gave three 25 minute art bites tours for an audience of 15 to 20 people - each of which provided an insight into a different aspect of Reynolds’ working practice.
• Researched and produced two MP3 audio downloads to supplement the exhibition with an audio guide.
• Designed and produced a 'young person’s gallery guide' to enhance the exhibition. This included images and a timeline designed in the style of Reynolds’ notebooks, making information about his life attractive to younger people. Fifty of these were printed and distributed around the gallery and were snapped up like hot cakes!